With her income from teaching, Vi continued her education at Oklahoma A&M College in 1926. She would attend a year of college and then teach for another year. She also attended summer school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she enjoyed canoeing, and the University of Southern California, where she invited two of her sisters out to visit her. She tells of wanting to impress some young men she met in California and she felt that being a teacher from Oklahoma was just not intriguing enough. Recalling a poster on a bus she had seen en route, she told them she was

Vi and Willard brought their new baby daughter to this home. Willard often commented humorously that the saying 'Life begins at 40' was not always true. Because of Judy's birth on his birthday( In 1940), he would frequently say, "For me, life ended at 40." [Note: December 24 was also the birth date of Vi's sister, Elizabeth Platt Bradley. Elizabeth sometimes visited for the holidays and a 'three-way celebration' of the joint birthdays.] It was convenient to have sisters who were nurses. Nora helped with Judy's delivery and later Elizabeth was the nurse when Martha was delivered and when Judy's tonsils were removed .

Willard was thrilled to have finally become a parent. He doted on his family, indulging his children and bragging on their brilliance to any who would listen. Vi had taught for many years and had an excellent rapport with children. She knew countless games. She loved all children and listened with a willing ear to hours of chatter. Martha remembers coming home from school and rushing in to talk to Mother for long periods while Mom fixed dinner and listened with rapt attention!

Vi was the quieter parent, at least as far as talking went. She sang and whistled more than she talked. She was about 5' 5" tall, with fine brown hair. She was always slim, never weighing more than about 125 (and much less than that in her later years). She usually kept a permanent in her hair and she always wore it short. Her sisters talk about how stylish she was as a young single schoolteacher, and there are many old photos of Vi with her hair fixed in 'marcel' or finger waves, wearing the latest fashions. Later she wore Nellie Don rayon jersey housedresses, in colorful floral prints. These were easy care, comfortable, and the front buttons and zippers were easy for her to manage after arthritis crippled her fingers.

There were always an animal or two (or 20) around the house when Judy and Martha were growing up - dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits, you name it. One year a summer vacation trip to California was planned. After counting up the pets to be boarded out, the trip was canceled. They had a beautiful American Spitz named Kitri, with long white hair. Vi heard that the long hairs could be woven into scarves or blankets, so when spring arrived and Kitri was sheared for the summer, the fur was saved in plastic bags in the attic. Several years later, on a hot summer day, the attic fan was turned on and the deteriorated bags spread Kitri's bushels of hair over the entire attic.

After her two girls were established in elementary school, Vi began to wish she could contribute to her family's income, and to recall how she loved her career as a teacher. She began to plan for a pre-school that she could operate from the family home while her children were away from school. In approximately 1950 she began the first pre-school in Bartlesville and possibly the first in the state of Oklahoma. A class was offered for about a dozen 3 year old children two mornings each week, and a similar class for four year olds on alternate mornings. The school was operated to coincide with the public school year and continued until after Willard retired from Phillips in 1961. When her girls were still at home, Vi would entertain her family at mealtime with some of the funny things the children had said or done at pre-school that day. It was her family's favorite part of the day! During a trip to California she studied methods used in pre-schools in the Los Angeles area. Her little students adored her, and their early preparation for school led them to be classroom stars as they progressed on through their schooling. They enjoyed putting on puppet shows, learning to count and recognise ABC's, and on the last day of pre-school they traditionally prepared and helped to crank a freezer of homemade ice cream. Vi always had long waiting lists for openings in her pre-school!

Willard had rheumatic fever as a child and as a result had a weak heart his entire life. a He took medicine for it, plus diabetes and high blood pressure. He died in Bartlesville, August 7, 1968, at age 67, of a stroke.

As the years continued, Vi began to have circulatory problems similar to those experienced by diabetics, although repeated tests failed to diagnose diabetes. (Later it was shown to be caused by her rheumatoid arthritis.) She had severe lung congestion which was diagnosed as emphysema, but which was again proved to be yet another side effect of her rheumatoid arthritis. In 1977 the circulatory problems led to gangrene in her lower leg, and she ultimately required amputation of that leg above the knee. As always, she made no complaints and made a valiant effort to learn to use an artificial leg, which nearly outweighed her. She lacked the physical strength to be very successful with the leg, and accepted life in a wheelchair with good humor. When she was able to get a battery-powered wheelchair she joked about getting a 'learner's permit' for driving the chair. When she had to move into a nursing home she loved the long hallways where she could race from one end to the other as fast as the wheelchair could go, unrestricted by any furniture. . and she said it reminded her of the freedom she always felt in her Model A Convertible. Demonstrations were always in order. In her final years she was diagnosed with a skin cancer on her nose; the initial surgery was inadequate, and a second surgery left a small hole into her nostril that she usually covered with a small band-aid, accepting further indignity with her usual grace. Like her Mother, Vi was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy, but thankfully, no further treatment was required. She died in December of 1981 of lung problems and heart failure. She and Willard are buried with all of his family in Rose Hill Cemetery in Tulsa, OK.